Facility Notes

USC Backs Off Demands To Operate L.A. Coliseum

In L.A., Farmer & Klein report USC has “backed off its proposal to run" the L.A. Coliseum, provided the Coliseum Commission “takes responsibility for making significant improvements to the venue.” The school estimates that a “sufficient overhaul of the stadium would cost about $50[M], or half of what USC offered to invest in the venue in a proposal submitted in June.” That plan “required the commission to hand day-to-day operations of the stadium to the school.” The commission has scheduled a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the counterproposal (L.A. TIMES, 12/18).

MAGIC: The Orlando City Council approved an agreement with the Magic in which team execs “agree to play their home games in Orlando and not to ask the [NBA] for the OK to move to another city.” If the team violates the non-relocation agreement before its 25-year lease expires, the Magic would have to “pay big money, including the lost rent and naming-rights revenue” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 12/18).

RAISING THE STEAKS: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Don Muret reports Comcast-Spectator has signed Cadillac’s local dealers group in Philadelphia to a three-year deal to sponsor Aramark’s new high-end steakhouse at Wachovia Center. Cadillac local Marketing Manager Crystine King said that the deal is valued in the “low six figures annually.” It is Cadillac’s second naming-rights deal in a sports facility; the company also sponsors the 47,000-square-foot, three-level lounge at Soldier Field. A Cadillac spokesperson said that the company “does not negotiate sponsorships at the national level” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/17 issue).